Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P56851 (epididymal)
 11,273 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The effect of high (HED) and medium energy diets (MED), fed to Hereford (H) and Angus (A) bulls from 6 through 24 mo of age, on scrotal circumference (SC), paired testes weight (PTW), epididymal sperm reserves (ESR) and seminal traits were examined. Over 3 yr, 120 bulls were involved. Angus exceeded H for both SC and PTW. Hereford bulls in yr 2 had smaller SC than in yr 1 or 3 but the response for A was consistent. Year affected PTW. In yr 2 Hereford bulls fed HED had 75% fewer ESR than MED-H bulls (9.3 vs 37.2 X 10(9]. Comparably treated A bulls had similar ESR numbers (29.2 vs 33.4 X 10(9]. In yr 3, epididymal sperm reserves of HED-H were depressed by 35% compared with MED-H (23.1 vs 35.7 X 10(9], whereas HED-A had 14% fewer ESR than did MED-A bulls (28.6 vs 33.1 X 10(9]. It was not obvious why H bulls were more susceptible to the effects of HED. Seminal quality of HED bulls was inferior to that of MED bulls, particularly with respect to progressive motility and the incidence of sperm in which a crater defect of the head was present at 2 yr of age. In yr 2 all seminal traits were severely depressed in 2-yr-old HED-H. Feeding HED to young H and A bulls reduced their reproductive potential.
 ...
PMID:Testicular development, epididymal sperm reserves and seminal quality in two-year-old Hereford and Angus bulls: effects of two levels of dietary energy. 648 May 37

Histopathologically, sperm granulomas consist of a central mass of degenerating spermatozoa surrounded by many epithelioid macrophages and lymphocytes. Using monoclonal antibodies (ED1, ED2, and OX6), the authors investigated immunohistochemically the participation of different macrophage populations in epididymal sperm granulomas induced in pubertal rats by repeated injection of L-cysteine. Monocyte-like and epithelioid macrophages expressed the ED1 antigen found on activated lysosomal membranes in rat blood monocytes and exudate macrophages, but did not express the ED2 antigen found on the membrane antigens of rat resident macrophages. Cells expressing MHC class II antigens (as detected by the OX6 antibody) were present in the granulomas in moderate numbers, particularly in the early stages. Ultrastructurally, fragmented spermatozoa were observed in the cytoplasm of epithelioid macrophages. These findings suggest that macrophages appearing in rat sperm granulomas originate mainly from blood monocytes, and that they have a high phagocytic activity and a potential for antigen presentation.
 ...
PMID:Macrophage populations in L-cysteine-induced rat sperm granulomas. 1455 29

This study provides the first evidence that rat epididymis is fully capable of initiating an inflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli through activation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). TLR4 functionality was demonstrated by in vivo LPS challenge, which induced a time- and dose-dependent activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NFKB) in caput and cauda epididymides. NFKB activation by LPS in caput epididymidis was abrogated when rats were pretreated with the NFKB inhibitor PDTC, confirming the specificity of this response. Within 2 h of LPS treatment (0.01 and 1 mg/kg, i.v.), NFKB activation in caput and cauda was accompanied by upregulation of Il1b, Nfkbia, and Cd14, but not Tlr4, mRNA. These effects, however, were not sustained after 24 h of LPS treatment. Lipopolysaccharide systemic effects were not restricted to epididymides, since Il1b, Nfkbia, and Cd14 mRNAs were also upregulated in other male reproductive tissues from LPS-treated rats (1 mg/kg, i.v., 2 h). Constitutive TLR4 was immunolocalized in some, but not all, epididymal epithelial cells and in interstitial cells, some of them identified as resident ED2-positive macrophages. No change in TLR4 immunostaining pattern was observed when epididymides from control and LPS-treated rats were compared (1 mg/kg, i.v., 2 h and 24 h). Significant NFKB activation was also achieved within 1 min of in vitro incubation of caput epididymidis with LPS (0.01-5 mug/ml), confirming that components for TLR4 signaling cascade activation are fully active in this tissue. This study contributes to a better understanding of the innate immune response in the epididymis and other tissues from the male reproductive tract.
 ...
PMID:Activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) by in vivo and in vitro exposure of rat epididymis to lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia Coli. 1870 21